TETFund, VON partner to place Nigeria’s education sector on global spotlight
By Uji A Iliyasu, Abuja
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and the Voice of Nigeria (VON) have entered into a strategic partnership aimed at enhancing the global visibility of Nigeria’s education sector through strengthened media collaboration.
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, disclosed this when he received a delegation from VON, led by its Director-General, Mr Jibrin Baba Ndace, at the Fund’s headquarters in Abuja.
Echono said the Fund would leverage VON’s extensive broadcast reach to showcase more effectively its projects and contributions to tertiary education within Nigeria and internationally.
He noted that public awareness and appreciation of TETFund’s interventions had grown significantly due to the visible impact of its projects across institutions nationwide.
Broader media engagement, he added, would further enhance transparency and deepen public understanding of the Fund’s activities.
He said TETFund is embarking on a nationwide commissioning of projects and requires comprehensive media coverage to ensure that Nigerians, particularly those in rural communities who rely heavily on radio broadcasts, are well informed.
He underscored the importance of content co-creation and sustained collaboration, directing the Fund’s Public Affairs Department to work closely with VON in developing a functional framework for continuous engagement.
Echono also commended VON’s multilingual broadcasting capacity, describing it as a strategic asset in reaching diverse audiences both within and outside Nigeria.
Earlier, Ndace observed that TETFund’s interventions remain critical to the survival and advancement of tertiary institutions in the country. He praised Echono’s leadership and reforms at the Fund, pledging VON’s support in amplifying its activities on the global stage.
He explained that VON, Nigeria’s external broadcasting service, operates in eight languages: English, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Fulfulde, French, Arabic and Swahili, and is expanding partnerships to further project Nigeria’s image internationally.
Ndace added that the organisation is repositioning its operations by strengthening its zonal offices nationwide and diversifying its content to include culture, tourism and developmental storytelling, alongside coverage of government policies.
He stressed the need for Nigeria to take ownership of its narrative, noting that positive national developments are often overshadowed by negative portrayals in sections of the foreign media.
Ndace proposed a structured collaboration that would enable VON’s correspondents across the country to cover TETFund activities, translate content into multiple languages and support capacity building for communications teams within tertiary institutions.
He also disclosed ongoing efforts to reactivate the organisation’s high-capacity rotating antenna transmitter, which would enable Nigeria to broadcast clearly across Africa, Europe and other parts of the world.